Perfect vs. Permissive

A friend called me up today so he could ask a question about something he read on some website. He prefaced the conversation by asking if I believed in the perfect and permissive wills of God. A few years ago I would have said yes. But now I say no. I explained to him that it seems to me that in order for God to have both a perfect will and a permissive will, he’d have to have two wills, which would suggest more than one God. I have the same basic problem with the idea of a perfect and permissive will as I do with the so-called social Trinity.

So my answer put the kibosh on his main question and I never actually got to hear it. I left him with this thought to chew on: What if God perfectly permits? Think on these things.

B”H

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2 thoughts on “Perfect vs. Permissive”

Nick.. I think the questions sets up a false dichotomy. I have a will for my children. They can know my will, but I can’t force them to do my will. So God will do all he can to convict me of what he wants me to do.. but then I have to carry it out.

I can resist him.. though he makes it hard to do so and I don’t want to face the consequences for doing so.

What if God inaugurated his kingdom in the anointed ministry, death and resurrection of his Son, and that kingdom exists alongside the power of Satan and darkness during this present time between the ages? That would mean God isn’t responsible for evil, either willfully, decretive, etc. But that God’s decretive will was realized in Christ and at his return will be consummated. What if our naturalistic tendencies to rationalize the presence of evil with the sovereignty of God were actually informed Biblicallly? Think on that.